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Charles Louis Glaser is a scholar of international relations theory, known for his work on defensive realism,[1][2] as well as nuclear strategy.[3][4] He is the founding director of the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies[5] at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, as well as a professor of political science and international affairs. His best-known book, Rational Theory of International Politics: The Logic of Competition and Cooperation (Princeton University Press, 2010) received an Honorable Mention for 2011 Best Book from the International Security Studies Section of the International Studies Association.[6]
Glaser's research focuses on international relations theory and international security policy.[7] He has contributed to the ideas of defensive realism, the security dilemma, the offense-defense balance, and arms races through various publications and articles.[8]
In Rational Theory of International Politics, he outlines three factors that affect a state's security strategies: the material capabilities of a state, the information it has about the intentions and capabilities of other states, and the state's motives. Here, he distinguishes between motives that are "security-seeking" or "greedy."[9] The book provides a defensive realist approach to international relations. It rejects that the international system consistently favors competitive behavior between states. The book was debated in an issue of Security Studies.[10] According to LSE international relations scholar Chris Brown, Glaser's book is "the most sophisticated account of structural realism since that of [Kenneth] Waltz."[11]
In a 2019 article for International Security, Glaser argued that the concept of a "liberal international order" was flawed and that many of the outcomes purportedly explained by the liberal international order (such as "cooperation under anarchy, effective Western balancing against the Soviet Union, the Cold War peace, and the lack of balancing against the United States following the Cold War") could be better accounted for by defensive realism.[12]
Glaser received a doctorate from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also holds an M.A. in physics and an MPP from Harvard University, as well as a B.S. in physics from MIT.[7] Glaser was the Emmett Dedmon professor of public policy and acting dean at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago prior to George Washington University. He has also taught political science at the University of Michigan and was a visiting fellow at Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. He has served as a strategic analyst for the Joint Staff in the Pentagon, and was a peace fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, as well as a research associate at the Center for International Studies at MIT.[7]
